Yesterday morning, Eduard Chuvashov, a judge who specialized in hate crimes and sent several ultranationalist extremists to jail for attacking –and often killing — non-Slavic immigrants, was gunned down as he left for work.

The killer shot Chuvashov in the head and chest, fired a “control shot” into Chuvashov’s head. He used a silencer and made sure to leave no shells behind.

The killing sent a chill through Moscow’s human rights community as it is not the first time their legal defenders have come under fire from the neo-Nazis they go after. Last January, Stanislav Markelov, a 34-year-old lawyer representing the family of a young Chechen woman killed by a Russian tank commander, was gunned down in broad daylight, less than half a mile from the Kremlin. Anastasia Baburova, the young journalist walking with him, was killed, too.

Well, perhaps in light of Monday’s happy events, the two young extremists arrested in the Markelov case decided to show their love for one another.